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Helios
'''Helios' is the God of The Sun and Guardian of Oaths. He is a major antagonist in God of War III. Helios is one of the strongest Gods, since he is the sun itself. He is only surpassed by Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus. In Greek Mythology In Greek mythology, the Sun was personified as Helios. Helios was the All-Seeing God of the sun and was called upon witness when needed by the Gods. He was a son of the Titan Hyperion and Theia, and brother of the Godesses Selene, the Moon, and Eos, the Dawn. The names of these three were also the common Greek words for Sun, Dawn and Moon. Helios was imagined as a handsome God crowned with the shining aureole of the sun, who drove the Sun Chariot across the sky each day to earth-circling Oceanus and through the world-ocean returned to the East at night. Homer described Helios's chariot as drawn by his Fire Steeds. Still later, the horses were given fiery names: Pyrois, Aeos, Aethon, and Phlegon. Although born a Titan, Helios is never depicted in the gigantic form of his parents. As time passed, Helios was increasingly identified with the God of Light, Apollo, but the two remained separate beings. Helios' mythological Roman equivalent is Sol. In the God of War Series The First Titanomachy In Atlas' flashback of the Great War of the Gods and the Titans, Helios can be seen fighting alongside Hermes against the Titans. Wager with the Gods Helios appeared in the gods' wager, with a champion of his own. Although endowed with powers similar to Helios' own, his champion was killed in battle by Kratos. Helios' Abduction Helios was kidnapped by the mighty Titan by orders of the goddess Persephone, who felt betrayed by the Gods for being forced to stay with her husband Hades, God of the Underworld, six months out of every year. His disappearance allowed Morpheus, the God of Dreams, to take over the mortal realm and cast the Gods into a deep slumber. Helios was taken to the Underworld, where Atlas tried to use his power to destroy the Pillar of the World-and with it, the rest of the world and Mount Olympus (the home of the Olympian Gods). Before this plan could be fully achieved, Helios was saved by Kratos, who defeated Persephone and chained Atlas to the world in the Pillar's place. During the battle with Persephone, Helios was held in Atlas' hand, forming of an orb of light. The ray of sunlight he radiated was used by Kratos to weaken Persephone. After his final battle and Kratos returning Helios to the sky but falling hard on a cliff, an unconscious Kratos was stripped of his items by Helios and Athena. Helios, grateful for Kratos' rescuing him, and showing pity for his sacrifices, suggests helping him further, only for Athena to disagree, claiming that "He'll live. They must." Further Appearances While Helios does not appear in person in Ascension, God of War, Ghost of Sparta or God of War II (save the ending cutscene), technically he is always visible whenever the Sun is in the sky. Two statues of the Sun God do appear in God of War II. The first is the great Colossus of Rhodes, which, after being brought to life by Zeus, Kratos fought and destroyed. The second was found in the Garden of the Gods, as Kratos travelled through the Palace of the Fates. Helios briefly appears in person at the end, during the council of the Gods on Olympus, along with Hermes, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. He is one of the first witnesses of the rescued Titans ascending Mount Olympus, led by Gaia and Kratos, who wanted revenge on Zeus for betraying him. The Second Titanomachy The Gods quickly took action to defeat the Titans once again. Helios jumped onto his Sun Chariot and began attacking Gaia, throwing a fireball, combusting a fallen tree to prevent Kratos from escaping the undead soldiers that swarmed the Titaness' shoulder. Afterwards, Helios was also seen battling the Titan of Destruction, Perses, and successfully dislodging him from the mountain. Helios again confronted Perses on the slopes of Olympia, holding an advantage over the Titan because of the blinding light he emitted. He occasionally aided the minions of Olympus fighting Kratos, throwing fireballs into the area. After having fought his way through the hordes, Kratos used a ballista to damage Helios' Sun Chariot, causing him to fly straight into Perses' hand. Perses then crushed Helios with his Chariot, and threw him far into the city. Death After traveling through the ruined city, Kratos discovers Helios once again; severly injured from the crash and unable to lift himself off the ground. A battalion of Olympian soldiers desperately attempted to protect their Sun God, forming a circular phalanx around him. Being unable to shatter their Onyx shields with his weapons, Kratos controlled a Cyclops to break through the ranks, crushing the phalanx, after which he killed the Cyclops by ruthlessly tearing its eye out of its socket. Helios, pleading for his life, reminded Kratos of the debt he owed the mortal for saving him years ago (in Chains of Olympus), and promised to repay Kratos if his life was to be spared as his life was spared from Atlas by Kratos. Kratos immediately demanded the location of The Flame of Olympus. Helios stated he would never reach it or kill Zeus and that he would forfeit his life trying; to which Kratos replied he was not the life Helios should worry about. Helios subsequently unleashed the power of the sun, in an attempt to blind Kratos. Kratos however, was able to block the light with his hands and slowly advance toward him and smash Helios' head repeatedly under his boot. Helios then lies to Kratos by saying that Kratos would have to embrace the Flames of Olympus to defeat Zeus, only to have Kratos angrily reveal that Hephaestus, the God of Blacksmiths, had already told him about the Flame and how it was both harmful to Gods and mortals. Helios expressed shock at Kratos trusting the words of Hephaestus, labeling the Smith God as an exiled freak who had fallen from the graces of Olympus. Kratos then declared that was exactly why he believed Hephaestus in the first place. Failing to convince Kratos, and with a final gaze at the Spartan, Helios told Kratos his death would not lead him to Zeus, only for Kratos to reply that is where he was wrong. Kratos then grabbed his head, and started to pull it fiercely, Kratos then, delivered a powerful hit on Helios's neck, breaking it, and then grabbed the Sun God's head again and started to pull it with all his might, Helios screamed in pain as Kratos brutally tore off his head, killing him. Helios's severed head screamed in pain and anger as Kratos observed it. With the Sun God's death, clouds blocked the sun, bringing darkness and storms permanently across the world. Kratos would then use the late god's head to discover several secrets, blind enemies, and unlocking new paths throughout Olympus, as well as the Underworld. In the final battle against Zeus, the sun god's head, while undamaged, has its light dimmed when Zeus destroyed Kratos' equipment except for the Boots of Hermes, the Blades of Exile and the Blade of Olympus. Powers and abilities As the God of the Sun and easily one of the most important deities in the Greek Pantheon, Helios is implied to be an incredible force to be reckoned with. He may have presumably possessed all of the standard abilities of a god, including immortality, enhanced physical abilities, and great endurance, however as a natural born Titan he presumably possess greater abilities. Although while this may indeed be the case, Helios himself does not receive an opportunity to display many of these traits, as his appearances in God of War III were rather brief and did not involve any scuffles with Kratos. However, out of all the abilities he apparently possessed, quite possibly the most prominent attribute displayed by Helios is immense physical durability, as he was shown to have been able to survive being both crushed in Perses' fist and even thrown at presumably high speeds into a mountainside (although he did suffer from some injuries as a result of this). This proves that Helios, at full strength, was a truly powerful opponent to face and would have most likely put up a rather impressive fight should he have had the opportunity to face the Ghost of Sparta in a more proper setting where the odds would have been more evenly matched. In addition to his physical attributes, Helios, being the sun god, naturally has control over different aspects of the sun, such as fire or more specifically sunlight; He was shown to be able to hurl massive blasts of light at his foes that would explode in fiery glory that proved to be very effective when he is seen battling Perses at different points in the game. He also displays the ability to unleash an incredibly bright light from his body which he could use to utterly blind his enemies and even illumine even the most darkest of places (as evidence by Kratos using his decapitated head as a makeshift lantern). In addition to all of his primary powers and abilities, Helios also possessed an immense flying chariot with flaming horses that he would ride with very masterful skill into battle at great speeds. He was also in possession of his trademark Sun Shield (worn on his left forearm), which he could use to deflect any oncoming attacks. Since he is the literal aspect of the sun, should Helios be destroyed or abducted, this would cause the sun to be blocked out by heavy rainclouds and violent storms and even disappear entirely (as shown by his death at the hands of Kratos and his abduction in Chains Of Olympus). Trivia * He is voiced by Dwight Schultz in Chains of Olympus and by Crispin Freeman in God of War III, where his face is modeled after Freeman's. * In Chains of Olympus, Helios' abduction led to the disappearance of the Sun from the sky. In God of War III, Kratos killed Helios by ripping his head off, causing the sun to be blocked by dark clouds, and an endless torrent of rain to pour down, then followed by thunderstorms and tornadoes. In the demo version however, after Kratos rips Helios' head off, the sky seems to have been spared from any changes. * Right in front of Helios, while lying wounded on the rooftop, lies the Sun Shield Kratos used in Chains of Olympus, which can be retrieved as a Godly Possession. * In a form of cruel irony, Helios' death actually did lead Kratos to Zeus, since the spartan used the god's head as a lantern to light his way through Olympus. * The Evil that infected Helios is most likely Deceit, since he lied to Kratos about The Flame of Olympus. * Even though appearing in very few mythology stories, he was still regarded as the sun god, with the Colossus of Rhodes being built in his image on the eponymous island, where he was worshiped and said to be born. * Helios and his sisters, Eos and Selene, are cousins of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia, since Hyperion and Cronos were brothers. * In the God of War II ending cutscene, where Zeus gathers his fellow Gods to face Kratos' threats, Helios's appearance is slightly different. He gains a helmet in God of War III and his armor is brighter. * Similar to Athena, Helios once sided with Kratos, aiding him in his quest to stop Persephone. They later turned against him when Kratos sought to kill Zeus after being betrayed. *If one looks carefully, Helios appears to have the edges of a sun tattoo showing over his breast-plate, and on his arms and legs. *Ironically Kratos had blocked the sun and killed the same God who he had saved and had restored the sun in Chains of Olympus. *When Kratos uses Helios' Head, the faint screams of the God can still be heard coming from the decapitated head. A possible, yet horrifying, conclusion from this is that Helios is somehow still alive as a disembodied head which may also explain how his head is still able to create sunlight whereas the other gods lose their powers after death. Gallery 500x helios head rip.jpg 6a00d83505e2d853ef00e54f2638ad8834-500wi.jpg|Helios' Chariot Colossus 2.jpg|The Colossus of Rhodes, a statue of Helios God-of-War-III-final5.jpg Gow3big 1135.jpg|Helios' Shield Helio's head.jpg Helios1--screenshot viewer medium.jpg HeliosBeam.JPG Helios MTOlympus.PNG Neckrip1--screenshot viewer medium.jpg Tartarus shield01.jpg Untitled 13.png Helios-full decapitation.jpg Headofhelios-453x300.jpg Helios (comics).jpg Helios statue.jpg|Helios' statue, encountered in the Garden of the Gods Helios_1.jpg Related Pages *Helios' Chariot *Temple of Helios *Colossus of Rhodes *Head of Helios *Fire Steeds: Boreas, Eurus, Notus, Zephyrus Category:Characters Category:Gods Category:God of War: Chains of Olympus Category:God of War II Category:God of War III Category:God of War (Comics) Category:Enemies Category:Allies Category:Bosses Category:God of War Series Category:The Great War Category:Males Category:Titans